- Hi, thanks for joining us for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.
I'm Chris Cooper.
Winter is coming and the frost will kill the summer annuals.
Today we will be replacing them with winter color.
Also, most things look dead in the winter, but there are still lots of colorful birds to attract to your yard.
That's just ahead on The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South.
- (female announcer) Production funding for The Family Plot: Gardening in the Mid-South is provided by the WKNO Production Fund, the WKNO Endowment Fund, and by viewers like you, thank you.
[upbeat country music] - Welcome to The Family Plot, I'm Chris Cooper.
Joining me today is Joellen Dimond.
Joellen is the Director of Landscape at the University of Memphis.
And Debbie Bruce will be joining me later.
All right, Joellen, I guess we're gonna be doing something that I love to do today, right?
- Yeah, planting flowers.
But, first, we've got to get rid of the ones that are here to make way for the next season.
- And you know this is always hard for me to do, right?
- Well, look how beautiful they are.
- Yeah, they look good.
- And just take a moment.
The Coleus did wonderful.
- It did.
- But the Pentas that did great last time and the Vinca that did well last time are somewhere in here.
- Yeah, they're in there somewhere.
- So, but nobody cut the Coleus, and look how sparse and large they've gotten.
If somebody would've cut the Coleus and kept them under control, I bet the Pentas and the Vinca would've done better, 'cause they would've had more light.
So time to rip 'em out and put in the fall foliage color, so we'll put these in the compost garden.
- All right.
- Let's go.
- Yeah, all right.
Yeah, I'll let you pop those out.
- Yeah, don't wanna break 'em off, 'cause then it'll be harder to get up.
Good thing is, there's not much weeds because it shaded the ground.
I think we're gonna have to call that quits.
That'll go well in the compost pile.
- So what do you think about the soil?
- Well, we finally got a soil test done on this.
- Oh, we did a soil test?
- Yes.
- How about that?
What did it reveal?
- Guess what?
We have a pH of 7.63, which is a bit high.
- It's pretty high.
- So we are going to have to add soil acidifier to the soil.
And according to the label and recommendations from the soil test, we're not gonna need a whole lot to raise the pH in this.
So what we're gonna do is lightly sprinkle soil acidifier down and incorporate it in the ground just a little bit, and then we're gonna test the pH in about six months to see if we've gotten it lower.
And if we still need to lower it after that, we can sprinkle it again.
But we don't want to over-put soil acidifier, and we don't wanna put too much.
I'd rather side on being not enough than too much.
- Yeah, so just a little bit at a time.
- Just a little bit at a time.
It takes a while for it to change the pH, several months.
So we're just gonna do this gradually because think about it, it rose gradually, we've been doing this for many years.
So, we don't wanna suddenly shock the ground and make it too much acid in here for anything to live.
- I would agree with that.
And guess how many times we've done this?
Seventeen times.
- Seventeen times.
That's a lot of planting.
- How about that?
- That's a lot of growing for this soil.
- And building it up.
- And it's nice and organic now.
And, you know, the product of organic matter is pH is 7.
So, I mean, we're not too terribly far off from that, but that means we have nice, organic soil.
But it's time to make the pH correct.
Of course, when you're applying this, you gotta watch the wind to make sure we don't get it too far.
- All right, we're just doing a little bit, right?
- Just a little bit.
- This nutrient availability is so important for establishing flowers and plants, which is why it's always important to get your soil tested, right?
- Yes, definitely.
And that's all we're going to do.
- Wow, okay.
- You don't need too much.
But, of course, since we're planting, and pansies, we don't want them, they like cooler weather, which we're gonna start getting here soon, and so we want them to grow well, so we're gonna give 'em a little bit of boost by putting just a little bit of fertilizer on the ground too.
- What is that thing your mother said about this?
- Yeah, feeding the chickens.
- Feeding the chickens, all right.
I like that, mom.
- Yeah, not a whole lot.
- Feeding the chickens.
- And just to incorporate it in the ground, we'll just mix it up just a bit.
Found a rock.
- Right, it sounds like hard ground.
- This over here is very dry.
But I don't wanna incorporate it too far down 'cause I want the soil that we're have the plants in to benefit from our soil acidifier and our fertilizer.
Now let's mulch.
- And why do we mulch first?
- We mulch first because think about if you planted all these plants, and then you wanted a mulch on top, see how heavy this mulch is?
Oh my gosh, we would be burying our plants.
So it's easier to mulch first.
- Let me know how much you want, let me know.
- Yeah, this is cedar mulch.
And they recommend cedar mulch for around houses and stuff, because it does keep some bugs away from, 'cause it is cedar, it's aromatic, and sometimes bugs don't like aromatic mulches.
There we go.
- Okay, that's good enough.
- Looks good, now we'll plant our seasonal color.
- All right, so what are we planting?
- Well, we've got two things.
Guess what we're revisiting?
- Oh, the Dusty Miller.
- The Dusty Miller.
The famous Dusty Miller.
We'll see how long it lasts this time, 'cause, you know, this was a while ago, so the pH is a little bit different.
So we'll see how this reacts with our new soil acidifier in here.
But this is Dusty Miller, it's evergreen.
It's a biannual, and sometimes it blooms on the second year, yellow flowers.
But right now we want it for the nice foliage color that it is.
And we have five of 'em.
- Okay.
- I like to see 'em in the center of the bed, 'cause if they do like what they did before, we can leave them in the bed for the summer.
That looks pretty good.
So we can plant these.
- Okay.
So what are our planting tips?
- And our planting tips are, we want to plant this at the same level of the soil that is in the container.
- Okay.
- And you look at these roots, these are nice roots, not too rooted, don't have to do much to it.
- That is all nice.
- But I take the trowel and I move the mulch away so I can see the soil, and dig a hole to plant this.
It's very dry on this side of the bed, very dry.
- Yeah, it is pretty wet on this side of the bed.
- We'll have to water this side in for sure.
But again, just set it so the soil's the same level as the ground, don't wanna put too much dirt over the top.
And then, we take our mulch and we place it back over the top.
This year we were doing something different.
We've got Violas.
We've got two different kinds.
One is a mix of colors, and the other one is a little bit different variety that's got kind of a purpley-pink and white combination.
And so we'll set these out first and we'll fill in with the others.
- All right.
- When you have containers like this, try not to pull the plants out.
I like to put my fingers through them and squeeze the pots a little bit.
Let the plants come out by themselves.
- So how do you know what pattern that you're looking for?
- Since we have a lot of the other, I wanted to make sure I have some kind of pattern with this particular one, so I've decided to kind of make it in the center, and then put the others all the way around it.
And one thing about pansies that's gonna be different from summer annuals, these don't grow very big.
So we usually plant these a little bit closer together than we do summer annuals, because these don't grow so much in the wintertime.
Now why don't we go ahead and plant these.
I just don't wanna step on anything.
So it's easier to plant them little bits at a time so that we don't step on them.
- All right, sounds good to me.
- And, again, the same thing.
Take your plant up, move the mulch away, find the dirt, dig a hole, don't plant it too deep, same level as the plant came out of the container.
And then, we take our mulch and we place it back over the top.
I'm gonna plant these in the front, I think, next.
So we'll get the front done, and then we'll finish out the back of the bed.
- All right.
- Got a nice mix here.
Again, thinking of our triangles.
Now we can start plantin' them.
- Okay.
Yeah, as you get toward this end, it definitely is dry.
- That's why I don't make much headway.
[laughs] - All right, Joellen, this is the one we're looking for.
- That's the one you're looking for, and that one's coming apart too.
- Yeah, just kind of hold it.
- You just kind of have to, yeah.
They're not as well rooted in the containers.
- Okay, I'ma hold it and get it in there.
- But just give it all the soil that's there and it will eventually grow and be happy.
- Oh, it'll be happy.
All right!
- Mm-hmm.
- All right.
- Wow, it feels like fall.
- Feels like fall.
- With seeing all these nice, these Violas and the Dusty Miller.
Now the temperatures need to keep getting cooler.
- Yeah, needs to get a little cooler.
- Just a little bit cooler.
- Well, thank you, Joellen.
I like when a plan comes together, don't you?
- Yes, it's very nice.
- This is good.
Thank you much, and we'll wait to see what happens.
Right?
- That's right.
[upbeat country music] We're looking at the end of the season for our flowers.
And you see this has some brown tips on the edge of it, and this poor Vinca is starting to yellow.
These are signs of plants in a too wet of a situation.
And even to these Coleus, you see that the the leaves are dying on them, this is a sign of it being too wet.
We have a sprinkler head that's right here that shoots this way and makes this area a lot wetter than the rest of the bed.
So this is signs that the bed has got too much water.
[upbeat country music] - All right, Ms. Debbie, let's talk a little bit about the kind of birds that we'll see in the winter.
- Okay, well, not only will we see our faithful residents, like our cardinals, chickadees, tufted titmice, nuthatch, and on, but some of our winter residents are either on their way back or already here now.
Birds such as your junco, many of your native sparrows, your sapsucker, in the woodpecker family, okay?
And some of our winter warblers will be here.
So it's a good time to start developing a refuge for your winter birds and your residents right now.
- Okay, yeah, we want folks to know that all the birds don't just leave, and they're still hanging around.
- That's right.
- Now since they'll be hanging around, what do we need to feed 'em?
- Well, first of all, start out with a clean feeder.
- Okay, that makes sense.
- We like to drink out of clean glasses, they like to eat out of clean utensils as well.
So it's a good time before winter really sets in to clean your feeders.
Clean them with a hot-water solution and with some soap.
Then rinse them with nine parts of water and one part of bleach, and that's gonna kill any of the bacteria that's lingering in there.
Make sure your hardware systems are ready to go and your bird houses are cleaned out.
And then, it's time to start filling up those feeders.
During the fall we have a quieter time at the feeders, but when winter sets in, we have a lot of activity.
Birds will form their feeding flocks in numbers.
If one bird finds food, everybody's gonna find food.
So it's safety in numbers and good to have multiple eyes to find them, so you'll have more activity at the feeders.
And you want to feed seed.
Predominantly seed is going to be most of your seed-eating songbirds.
And birds are quite adept at finding food in nature.
So before you even start to put your feeders out, when you're planting, think about things that are going to hold onto their fruits and their berries through the wintery months, such as your crab apples, and your sumac, dogwoods, junipers, your viburnums.
But it doesn't take long for all that to be depleted.
So you can provide seed in loose seed and feeders such as this cylinder feeder, or you can provide it in an open tray, which is fun because it doesn't restrict anyone then on the tray.
You can provide seed, such as your nyjer seed mixed with crushed hearts of sunflower for your finches.
- Okay.
- Or you can do compressed seed cylinders, like this one here or this little guy over here.
- I think those are so neat.
- Aren't those fun?
- Yeah, those are fun.
- And the birds really like 'em, and they're so easy to do.
But what's really neat about it is the birds have to work at it.
So it keeps your bird there longer so you can enjoy watching 'em.
Another type of food that you can provide for the birds would be suet, and suet is actually rendered fat.
We use beef fat in ours.
- All right.
- And we want high calories.
But if you have trouble with squirrels, you wanna go with the hot pepper.
- How about that?
- Squirrels don't like it.
Mammals don't like it, but your birds will love it.
But, you know, in nature, suet doesn't grow naturally like seeds do.
So one way to help the birds discover your suet feeder is frost it with peanut butter.
And put just a few seeds in it, and then they'll identify it as a food source pretty regularly.
- And the hot pepper doesn't bother the birds?
- The birds seem to love it.
Birds seem to love it.
But if you are feeding the birds and you don't wanna feed the squirrels, either go with a hot pepper suet, and we also have hot pepper seed cylinders that'll help.
- Okay.
- Something else you can feed to the birds would be your mealworms.
Mealworms can be either fed as live or dried.
And a good place to place these would be in a feeder near your bird bath, 'cause that way the birds will find 'em pretty regularly as well.
And you might have a bowl of fruit on your counter at home you don't realize you could share with the birds, and that would be apples.
- Okay.
- Cardinals love apples, red-bellied woodpeckers, your mockingbirds.
Take an apple and slice it or half it and put it on a feeder, and watch what happens there.
- Didn't know that, okay.
- Yeah.
- All right, so what about water?
- Water is so important.
You know when it's 95 degrees out, folks will think, "Oh, I need to put the water out for the birds."
And they tend to forget when it's 25 degrees.
But a clean bird is a warmer bird.
Plus, they have to drink just as we do every day.
You can provide water in a dish, but when it's really freezing outside, then put a deicer in it.
That's an electrical unit that's gonna turn on when the water reaches below I think it's like 40 degrees, and it'll keep the water just deiced.
It's not gonna make it a hot tub.
- Okay, right?
[Chris and Debbie laughing] - But it'll keep it thawed out.
Because when you have frozen water everywhere and thirsty birds, you will not believe the activity you have on a bird bath with a deicer in it.
- Yeah, I can see them enjoying that.
- They sure would.
- For sure.
All right, now while we have a little time left, let's talk about shelter.
- Shelter's important.
Landscape your yard for the birds in mind.
That's the time of year in the winter when the leaves are off the trees, so it's easy to be seen by predators.
So if you don't have a thicket or shrubs or that nearby for the birds to go inside when a predator comes by, whether it be a hawk or maybe a cat, which shouldn't be outside to begin with, then you can make a brush pile.
If you're trimming those branches or find branches that have fallen on the ground, make a pile of branches.
Or after Christmas, take a piece of rebar, stake it in the ground, and tie your Christmas tree to it after you discard it, and it'll be an area for the birds to get into.
Put it near your feeder.
That's a lot of fun, and you'd be surprised who will use it.
- I think Wes is amazed by that as well.
- That's a good idea.
- Yeah.
- That's a really good idea.
- 'Cause everybody pretty much just throws 'em, you know, to the curb.
- Mm-hmm.
- Hmm.
- Well, wait till spring to throw it to the curb.
- Right, wait till the spring to do that.
Okay, wow.
So again, some of those predators, hawks and some cats.
Are there any other out there that people need to know about?
- As far as predators during the day would be predominantly your hawks.
- Just the hawk?
Okay.
- They're gonna watch your bird feeder.
If you have a mourning dove sitting on here and a hawk nearby, your hawk will come in and grab the mourning dove.
- Oh, okay.
- And if there's somewhere shelter nearby where they can get to or where they can sit and wait for their turn at the feeder or the bath, that would help.
- Okay, wow, Ms. Debbie, thank you for that good information.
Appreciate that.
- You're welcome.
You're welcome.
[upbeat country music] - This is cedar mulch, and this is an aromatic mulch we've planted in the bed behind us.
It's a good mulch to have, because it is a natural insect repellent.
Cedar repels a lot of insects, because a lot of cedar, we make cedar chests and we make cedar closets, and the same thing with the chips in the bed, it repels insects naturally.
Sometimes we also use cypress in the beds too.
They break down very slowly and they will stay mulch longer in your beds and will repel insects.
Therefore, because of that, a lot of bugs just don't like to be in the beds with those, and so a lot of pest control companies say use cedar mulch or cypress mulch.
[upbeat country music] - All right, Joellen, here's our Q and A session.
You ready?
- I'm ready.
- Oh, these are some good questions we have here.
All right, here's our first viewer email.
"What is the best way to kill Poa annua?
Thank you," and this is Kenneth fr om Monterey, Tennessee, Putnam County.
- Oh wow, Putnam.
- All right?
- Yeah.
- So the whole thing about Poa annua, you know this, it's a winter annual grassy weed.
- Yes.
- It is tough to control.
- Yes.
- Tough to control.
You know me, I always like to talk about cultural practices.
Anytime I see Poa annua or annual bluegrass there's a couple of things that come to mind.
They like compact soils, they like soils that are poorly drained, and they also like soils that are high in nitrogen.
Right, so we gotta get all of that corrected before we can actually control annual bluegrass or Poa annua, right?
So there's a couple of different things.
Pre-emergents do help.
Dimension is one, dithiopyr is the active ingredient.
Anything that contains pendimethalin, you know, would work.
But it's already up, he wants to kill it.
- Have to go with post-emergent.
- Post-emergent, so yes, we gotta go with glyphosate will be one, read and follow the label on that.
Or imazaquin, which is Image, you know, has activity on Poa annua.
So if you're gonna use any of those, read and follow the label.
But I always like to go with cultural practices first.
- Yeah.
- All right, so poorly drained soil, compact soils means aeration, correcting the drainage, don't put down too much nitrogen fertilizer.
- Right.
- Poa annua likes cool weather.
- Yeah.
- All right, cool weather.
Winter annual grassy weed.
- Yeah, and it's tough.
- And it's tough, it's tough.
Or you can do like you do, huh?
Just sit there and pull it up and dig up.
'Cause it's easy to dig up, you know, especially if the soil is moist, 'cause it comes up in clumps.
- Well, the thing is, and it's got so many seeds, and it's so low.
I mean, it just hugs the ground and still has seed heads on it.
It's an amazing little weed grass.
- Oh, it definitely is for sure.
Yeah, if you're gonna pull it out of the ground, it has, you know, those seed heads on 'em, you better get a bag and kind of, you know, cover it up and drop it in the bag.
If not, if you drop those seeds there, they'll be back.
- Yeah.
- All right.
So there you have it, Kenneth.
And, yeah, go to your local Extension Office there in Putnam County.
They'll help you out with that.
All right?
- Sounds good.
- Here's our next viewer email.
"My boxwood shrubs have developed dead spots.
"What is this issue, and what can I do to save the rest of the shrubs?"
So the old boxwood, right?
So you have, you know, dying leaves.
What do you think?
- Well, based on the picture, you know, it looks like a winter injury.
I mean, boxwoods did not like this sudden cold temperature drop that we had in December of this last year.
So, you know, that's what it looks like to me.
I had a boxwood hedge that had the same thing happen to it.
And you could tell that where the wall was and the ones that were closer to the wall when the wind was whipping around got worse than the ones that were on the other side of that.
So, but yeah, so what we did was I just cut the dead out.
- That's what I would do.
- 'Cause the sun would get down in there, and then they're starting to come back in the middle because the stem's got sunlight and are re-leafing out.
So that's what I would do.
I wouldn't dig them all up unless you just really have to.
But I would cut the dead out and let the light and the air through it.
And the spring, fertilize it.
- I was gonna ask you about that.
- Yeah, I would fertilize it in the spring, and just see if you can't get that boxwoods to flush back out again.
- Yeah, get some rejuvenation, see if that'll help.
Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing.
I'll definitely prune out the dead You know, I'm thinking, winter injury.
That's something else that comes to mind, I think you and I talked about this earlier, Volutella blight, you know, will cause, you know, dead leaves as well.
But the thing about Volutella, it's a fungus, but you can actually see the little salmon-pink spores, right?
And that gives you, you know, it gives you the identifying characteristic of that fungus, right?
- Yeah.
- So if you don't see that, then it's probably not Volutella.
But it is one that will cause, you know, dead or dying, you know, limbs, and leaves, and such.
But I do think it's winter injury, prune it.
I'll just prune it.
It probably won't look good once you finish pruning.
- No, and ours didn't either.
But I tell you that, you know, you could see the green coming out in those bare spots, so.
- Yeah, patience.
- You just have to have a little patience.
- Yeah, a little patience, little patience.
And in the spring, like you said, yeah, give it a little fertilizer.
- Give it a little fertilizer and give it a little- - Get it jump started.
- Yeah, get it going.
- All right, all right, appreciate that question.
Joellen, fun as always.
- Yes, it is.
- Thank you much, thank you much.
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This is the 17th time we have planted flowers in the annual bed.
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[upbeat country music] [acoustic guitar chords]